I would like make two image files of my system partition at night, and store one on a USB hard drive and the other on a network storage drive. I think obsolete files should be removed from the drive and the drive defragmented before an image file is made. I have been running CCleaner and Defraggler under Windows 7. The question I would like to discuss is should I run programs in addition to CCleaner?
I have run Acronis, System Cleaner and I notice it takes hours to complete a Full cleanup, and it deletes more files than CCleaner. Also it hangs-up when it wants to delete a file being used by another program. I wondered what programs were causing Acronis System Cleaner to stall, so I experimented with system changes. When I removed web storage services that were being synchronized with files on the PC the problem went away. I wonder how thorough a job is CCleaner doing? Can it remove files that are in use, or does it ignore these files? Could it be that Acronis System Cleaner takes longer because it is making lower level deletions? Do I need to run more than one cleaner?
I ran Winzip Registry Optimizer immediately after running CCleaner. It found 212 items CCleaner did not remove and it said 156 of them were serious problems. I have a detailed list of the items. I would like to know in addition to CCleaner should I be running another Registry cleaner?
* Malware scan of the partition with for example Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware (the unregistered version is the freeware version) - it's a very good and fast way of finding malware that a traditional antivirus may miss.
* Immediately before creating the backup run a ChkDsk on the partition to repair any possible file errors.
* Temporarily stop services (note that you don't need to "remove them" as I'm unsure why you'd comment on doing that). Stopping services (which is only a temporary change until you either manually start them again, or reboot) can help during the backup process especially services which could restrict the backup software in some way such as its operating speed such as; Anti-Virus/Anti-Malware real-time protection which can/may/will be excepted to some extent to cause issues during the backup process such as making the backup take significantly more time (minutes to hours longer) than it really should.
I ran Winzip Registry Optimizer immediately after running CCleaner. It found 212 items CCleaner did not remove and it said 156 of them were serious problems. I have a detailed list of the items. I would like to know in addition to CCleaner should I be running another Registry cleaner?
You could very easily be corrupting your registry by using registry cleaners which are too aggressive, this is especially true if you're not investigating every item they deem as "invalid".
As just one prime example: Most aggressive registry cleaners I've seen will to some extent damage the installation of Microsoft Office by removing valid registry keys - that is if you blindly trust what so many of them will remove.
Temporarily stop services (note that you don't need to "remove them" as I'm unsure why you'd comment on doing that). Stopping services (which is only a temporary change until you either manually start them again, or reboot) can help during the backup process especially services which could restrict the backup software in some way such as its operating speed such as; Anti-Virus/Anti-Malware real-time protection which can/may/will be excepted to some extent to cause issues during the backup process such as making the backup take significantly more time (minutes to hours longer) than it really should.
I intend to reestablish synchronization between storage on my PC and storage on web services when I do I would like to carefully observe what programs are running on my PC, and if necessary temporaily shut them off during disk prep for backup to an image file.
Malware scan of the partition with for example Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware (the unregistered version is the freeware version) - it's a very good and fast way of finding malware that a traditional antivirus may miss.
I run the freeware verion of Malwarebytes Anti-Malware manually after updating once a week or so. Would like know how to write a script file to automate this practice.
I continousley run Microsoft Security Essentials. It does not interfer with disk cleaners like CCleaner, Acronis, System Cleaner, or Microsoft Disk Cleaner. I manually run MSE Full Scan a cuple times a week. I could automate this by using Windows Scheduler.
[moderatorNote] Kcav (and everybody else too) please make use of the edit button if nobody has replied, instead of posting multiple posts. When using this feature it keeps those of us following your issue from getting alerted over and over and allows a proper basis for post counts. [/moderatorNote]
You could very easily be corrupting your registry by using registry cleaners which are too aggressive, this is especially true if you're not investigating every item they deem as "invalid".
I only ran the Free version which does not make deletions, it only scans. Before running WinZip Registry Optimizer I ran CCleaner Registry Cleaner. WinZip reported finding 211 items, of which 156 are suppose to be serious. I printed the list and would like to analyze the contets. Maybe that should be done in a seperate post?
honestly I suggest only deleting things you are well sure you don't need and don't even worry about the 187est. other items.
CCleaner is sweet. It lets you chose from a list of cookies the ones you may want to keep. How isweet the UI is.
Right now I'm experimenting with CCleaner's secure file deletion method. I chose 3 passes and the Wipe MFT Free Space option. Just to see how long it takes. When it completes I am going to down Recuvae.
I wonder about the 156 Com and ActivX errors that WinZiP Registry optimizer reported as serious errors. What are they? May be I should tell CCleaner delete these specific files, folders, and reg keys.
Thank you for directing me to the CCleaner User guide. It was short and concise, liked reading it.
I believe you. I think CCleaner is design to provide a sensible answer not insight suspision of an impending carastrophy like these other cleanes and optimizers. I want to fine tune my use of CCleaner.
I plan to run Microsft Security Essentials Full Scan, CCleaner, and Defraggler automatically at night. Does that sound sensible? And in addition once a month manually update and run Malwarebytes and SuperAntSpyware.
How often you scan with your antivirus/antimalware is one of those personal things you'd need to figure out. It's more or less the same with defragmenting since everyone uses their computers differently.
No. I believe that defragging a disk daily is overkill and will cause unnecessary wear & tear. You *can* run ccleaner everyday if it makes you feel good or if you're targeting a huge amount of stuff for deletion, but every night is overkill too.
As a matter of fact, I'd just do everything you say every month or two. But that is a personal thing and if you want to do it daily you're of course free to do that.
Defragging a severely fragmented disk does indeed improve performance. But I don't know what would make a disk that bad over the course of a day unless your installing and uninstalling stuff a the same time you're encoding videos.. for example.